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In excess of 20 Olympic medallists, coaches and other international athletes have endorsed a appeal demanding a stop to the death penalty of a boxing champion and trainer, who is facing execution in the country.

Escalating Global Anger

During rising global condemnation over the country's expanding employment of the death penalty as a instrument of repression, the strongly worded statement censures the government's decision to confirm the capital punishment of the boxing champion.

The athlete, 30, from Mashhad in the northern province, was arrested for being involved in national uprisings in 2019 and charged of supporting an opposition group. He has spent 60 months in prison, where he has been abused and kept in isolation.

“Athletics is intended to encourage faith, togetherness, and courage,” the endorsers wrote. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his opinions is a clear violation on these principles and a admonition to any competitor who dares to voice opinions.

Pattern of Killing Competitors

The statement pointed out that the boxer's circumstances was not an isolated one and emphasized Iran’s past of sentencing to death athletes for their beliefs, such as a national team leader, leader of the soccer squad, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the women's volleyball squad. In two thousand twenty, a wrestling champion, a 27-year Iranian competitor, was put to death.

Other endorsers to the letter consist of Tracy Edwards, who skippered the pioneering women's squad in a international sailing event and was the initial female to earn a esteemed sailing award; the former leader of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Unjust Proceedings

The athlete was detained in the spring of 2020. The charges against him included “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of government belongings”. His ruling has been reversed on two occasions but on October 4 it was confirmed on the third occasion. His court case was criticized as “grossly unfair” by rights defenders and groups.

Urging to International Body

The call to prevent the boxer's death sentence follows a 2023 appeal to the global human rights chief for freedoms, endorsed by more than 100 advocates and entities, demanding measures to stop the athlete’s capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

As per reports, there is an “execution crisis in Iran, which has reached shocking dimensions”. In the year 2023, the government put to death at least over 850 people – a nearly half rise on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, representing the highest number since 2015. Over eight hundred people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Activists and opponents are focus, particularly in the wake of the the year 2022 uprising. Experts say the Iranian authorities have used the death penalty to quell dissent, create fear among the citizenry and reinforce their hold on authority.